THE GROTESQUE AND MYTH IN GIAMBATTISTA BASILE’S IL PENTAMERONE

Abstract

This paper, besides a short introduction concerning general information on themes and the structure present in the short story collection Lo cunto de li cunti overo lo trattenemiento de’ peccerille, written by the Italian Baroque author Giambattista Basile, whose masterpiece enjoyed great fame abroad much earlier than in Italy, is concerned with the analysis of fantastic and grotesque elements which generally characterise oral tradition, fairy tales and myths. The above-mentioned elements were identified in the fifty short stories which Basile wrote and included in his collection. Various sources were used in the analysis, relying on myths and fairy tales with the aim of explaining the presence of the grotesque. Besides its great literary value, this collection is also of great historical importance because, just like many other examples of oral tradition, it fosters a vast span of costumes and traditions that are typical of the Mediterranean folklore. From one tale to another, the collection slowly but surely reveals the Mediterranean identity of the people from the South of Italy and explains the function of the grotesque and its didactic purpose.